THE HAGUE, May 17 (Hina) - On the first day of the appeals hearing in the case of former political leader of Croats in Central Bosnia Darijo Kordic and former commander of the of the Croatian Defence Council 's Vitez Brigade Mario
Cerkez on Monday, at which arguments were presented by defence attorneys, the name of General Tihomir Blaskic was mentioned on several occasions. Blaskic was the HVO commander in central Bosnia between 1992 and 1994 when the crimes Kordic and Cerkez are charged with were committed.
THE HAGUE, May 17 (Hina) - On the first day of the appeals hearing in
the case of former political leader of Croats in Central Bosnia Darijo
Kordic and former commander of the of the Croatian Defence Council 's
Vitez Brigade Mario Cerkez on Monday, at which arguments were
presented by defence attorneys, the name of General Tihomir Blaskic
was mentioned on several occasions. Blaskic was the HVO commander in
central Bosnia between 1992 and 1994 when the crimes Kordic and Cerkez
are charged with were committed.#L#
After the trial which lasted 240 days, the ICTY trial chamber in
Febraury 2001 sentenced Kordic to 25 years in prison and Cerkez, who
commanded HVO units in central Bosnia, to 15 years in prison. They
were charged with crimes against humanity and violations of laws and
customs of war committed during a campaign of persecution of Bosnian
Muslims in the Lasva River Valley during the Croat-Muslim conflict in
1992 and 1993. The gravest crime was the massacre of over 100 Muslims
(Bosniaks) in the village of Ahmici on 16 April 1993.
Both the defence and persecutors appealed against the verdict of the
trial chamber.
Kordic's attorney mentioned Blaskic on so many occasion that
prosecutor Norman Farrell ironically suggested they should call
Blaskic as a witness.
Farell said that in the appeals process Blaskic had changed his
position about Kordic's role, adding that Blaskic should be called as
witness to clarify that.
Kordic's attorneys insisted there were a number of omissions of during
the trial.
Defence attorney Turner Smith said that since June 1993, Bosniaks had
been controlling all municipalities in central Bosnia apart from
several pockets of Croatian resistance and that after the 1993-1994
hard winter Croats came to the edge of complete defeat and that the
Washington Accord had saved them.
It is not logical to think that Croats as a minority were persecuting
the Bosniak population who were the majority, Smith said.
According to him, it has not been proven that Kordic had participated
in a joint criminal enterprise or that he had an important role in the
government of the Croat Republic of Herzeg-Bosna. Smith cited
transcripts from the Office of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman,
attempting to prove that Herzeg-Bosna had no plans to break away from
Bosnia-Herzegovina. On December 27, 1991, Tudjman instructed them to
negotiate with Bosniaks rather then to break away by force, he said.
The third attorney claims that Kordic had neither administrative not
military power, stressing that Blaskic had all the authorities.
(Hina) it